Don’t Wait for Your Online Reputation to Magically Improve

What do consumers see when they search for your business? They probably see something like this search engine results page, with reviews and ratings prominently featured across precious above-the-fold Google search page space.

What do your reviews say about your business? Are your ratings positive or negative? Are you responding to the reviews in a consistent manner? If your brand search doesn’t appear like the screenshot above, you have an opportunity to own the search page for your brand name by claiming, optimizing, and actively managing your review profiles. In doing so, you’ll not only enhance your search presence, but also build consumer trust and confidence.

Reviews are Your First Impression

Whether you like it or not, star rating is the number one factor used by consumers to judge a business. That means - based on how your online reputation looks - you could be gaining, or losing, potential customers and brand advocates without even getting a chance to speak with them. Need more convincing?

97% of consumers read online reviews

85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

73% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust a local business more

3.3 is the average minimum star rating of a business consumers would consider engaging with

Reviews Require Proactive, Holistic Management

Here are the 3 steps you need to take to enhance your online reputation:

​Step 1: Get more, good reviews.

You’ve seen it time and again - angry customers are much more likely to visit review platforms as a way to vent about their frustrations. Satisfied customers expect good service, so when they experience a stellar buying process, they’re not as likely to rave about it online.

Enter: Podium. Podium is a review management software that connects to your DMS to proactively ask for reviews from your sales and service customers. Did you know that, if asked, 77% of consumers will leave a review for a business?

Podium’s automated text/email campaigns have been proven to not only increase reviews, but, more importantly, increase positive reviews. Here are even more promising details:

92% of Podium customers say their online reviews make the sale easier.

On average, Podium customers say they see a 6% increase in revenue after implementing the platform.

Step 2: Actively manage all of your reviews.

Awesome, you’re now garnering 50+ reviews per month. Now what? You need real humans to review, respond, and actively monitor those reviews to identify:

Rule-based removal opportunities. Did someone use hate speech, was the review off-topic, or is there some kind of conflict of interest? Our marketing specialists will monitor for these types of violations and request removal of reviews as applicable.

30% of consumers name responding to reviews as a key factor when judging a local business. Through professional and timely review responses, you’re able to protect future sales when potential customers see how much your business truly cares about responding to compliments and resolving complaints.

Step 3: Monitor your reputation process and progress.

You may have assumed you were all set after step 2. But we want to ensure your proactive reputation management strategy is always working in your favor. That’s why, on a monthly basis, we evaluate your strategy and report back to you. You can expect comprehensive reports including data like:

Review volume trends

Star rating improvement

Review sentiment analysis

Competitor insights

If you’re ready to shift your reputation management strategy into high gear, we’re the experts in both garnering and managing more reviews for your business. Contact us for a free digital analysis or to enroll in our proactive reputation management service today.